and the roses smiled
by Silvyia
Summary: A quick WhiteRose short story. Ruby brings Weiss to meet her mother. Weiss asks for permission. [Cover image is my own artwork]


A beautiful scene plays out before a young woman. It's autumn, leaves in an array of warm colors falling from the trees of the magnificent forest behind her, looking like a soft array of warm-colored rain. Wind blew gently in one direction, not harsh enough to cause the young woman annoyance in having to fix her hair, but soft enough for her to smile silently. The grass is soft and still freshly cut around the area, surrounding a field of roses just coming into full bloom.

In the center of it all, a tombstone. A grave of a hero. Words of poetry etched onto its surface.

There Ruby Rose stood, twenty-one years of age, holding a single rose in her hands, staring down at the tombstone with a look of both warmth and hurt in her silver eyes. Her red hood is up, covering her hair that had grown out long enough to touch her shoulder blades.

She stands in silence for a moment, letting the wind and the leaves speak for her heart. Then she reaches up with a single hand, pulling the hood off of her head. There is a pendant in her hair - a white snowflake, small but intricate and beautifully placed atop a hastily-done braid of red and black hair. Her skin has tanned just the slightest bit from her travels, holding a few more scars than she used to have, but her father is adamant that she still remains an almost perfect copy of her mother.

"Hey, Mom," she mutters almost inaudibly, confident that her audience could hear her anyway. "It's been a while."

She lets her words hang in the air for a moment, gathering her thoughts as if presenting to a room and wanting to choose the right words to pitch. She takes a deep breath, smelling the roses and the wind.

"But I finally brought her with me," she grins warmly, a sparkle in her eyes that have seen so much pain in such a short amount of time. She turns slightly, motioning behind her. Another woman steps forward, just a couple of years older than Ruby. She is wearing a white and blue dress - a combat skirt, of course - and her hair, snow-white and shorter than it has ever been, is held up in an intricate ponytail full of twirls and braids. Her eyes are ice-blue and cold, but they hold so much more warmth and love in them than most would ever know.

She walks up to the girl in Red, and holds out her hand. Ruby grabs it without hesitation, without a thought. It was so natural now.

"I figured you'd want to meet her - I know it's been so long since we last spoke, but I promised to bring my girlfriend the next time I visited, remember?" She continues, still in a whispered tone, but a little louder now for her audience of two. "So, here she is, the famed Weiss Schnee!"

She tilts a little, bumping her shoulder with the other woman, and they both grin. Weiss smiles like she's trying not to find it amusing, but can't deny that it is.

Weiss looks down at the gravestone, only the slightest downward tilt to her lips proof enough of the sorrow she felt in her heart at the sight. She squeezes Ruby's hand tighter, and smiles - not a smile that she would show to a wealthy contributor to the SDC, not a smile that her father taught her to give when she was angry - it was a genuine smile that breaks through her icy exterior, and she gives a little bow, speaking softly,

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Ms. Rose."

She feels Ruby squeeze her hand back.

"Ruby talks about you all the time," Weiss continues after she stands up straight again, her tone playful and jovial like speaking to an old friend. Warm, comforting. "She tells me about how you would slay Grimm, be a hero, and still have the time to come home and read stories to your children and tell your husband that you love him."

She smiles. "Yang talks about you, too - mostly the things Ruby doesn't want to mention. Like how you once watched Ruby struggle to fit a stale cookie into a glass of milk before she started crying for your help -"

Ruby elbows her in the side, laughing loudly. "I have _no idea_ where she got that idea from, I promise!" She side-eyes her girlfriend with a stink eye. Weiss lets out a laugh that is warm and genuine but still holding to the idea of a proper lady's laugh.

"- And how she once climbed up a tree to reach a bird's nest and then refused to come down, so you had to build a tree-house just for her -" She continues, but is interrupted by the very girl she was speaking about.

"-Maybe we should tell her about how you accidentally summoned a baorbatusk in the middle of some fancy-schmancy party in Atlas -"

For the next minute or so, they speak over each other, sharing embarrassing stories of each other to the empty space in front of them. The roses planted on the ground rustle in the wind, almost sounding like a gentle laughter if you strained your ears hard enough..

The arguing ends, and Ruby grumbles something about needing a sugar break, saying a small, heartfelt farewell to her mother's tombstone before walking off with a promise of 'getting even' later. Weiss smiles, but doesn't follow her girlfriend away from the circle of roses. She waits, watching her leave. When she is far enough away, probably on her way back down to her Father's cabin out deeper into the woods, Weiss turns back around to the grave. The wind is silent now, as if waiting for her to speak the first word in this new silence.

She steps forward into the circle of flowers, and looks a little nervous for a moment.

"Ms. Rose," she begins, polite and formal. She pauses, and takes a deep breath.

"Summer Rose," she corrects herself, her voice so soft and quiet. "I… I am sorry you couldn't be here for Ruby… I'm sorry your time was cut short so soon, _too _soon. I just wanted to let you know… I am always here for her. I know I can't replace a mother's love, and I don't intend to. I just…"

She pauses, a lump in the back of her throat that makes it difficult to speak. She clears her throat, and pretends the tears in her eyes aren't there.

"I love her, so much," she whispers. "And I…"

She pulls something out of her pocket, small and black. A box of some sort. She runs her fingers over the top of it for a moment, feeling the weight of the box. It was so small, but so heavy on her heart.

"I hope that I can be there for her for as long as possible, always," she whispers, looking back up at the grave, as if asking something with her eyes. An un-asked question for permission.

A particularly strong gust of wind passes through the forest, bringing a flurry of leaves and flowers into the surrounding area. The rose garden bristles, the gentle laughter floating in the wind back again. At her feet, a wind-swept rose lays gently, freshly bloomed but the colors obvious anyway. Red, pink, fading to white. An un-spoken answer, granted.

Weiss shuts her eyes, and lets out a single huff of air as tears slip down her cheeks - cracked porcelain, still so beautiful and perfect despite the wear and tear of the years. She stuffs the small box back into her pocket, and smiles. She bows, low and grateful and genuine.

"I'll do everything I can for her, I promise - I will protect her with my life, and I hope… I hope I can make her happy."

She wipes away the tears, and spends a minute longer simply standing in silence. It was so peaceful, so happy out here. She turns around, and leaves the singular grave, fingers nervously tapping at the small, black box in her pocket with a look of new-found determination in her eyes.

"_I hope I can make her as happy as she makes me."_

And the roses smiled.


End file.
